As is known in the art, treatment of a desired object, item, surface or area frequently occurs within an enclosed area, especially when treating a surface containing toxic and/or hazardous material and/or when collection and reuse of the surface treatment media is desired. Since the desired object, item, surface or area is located within a generally confined or sealed enclosure, it becomes periodically necessary for the operator to discontinue the surface treatment of the object(s), item(s) or surface(s), and either (1) rotate/reorientate the object(s), item(s) or surface(s) so that remaining areas of the object(s), item(s) or surface(s) can be treated or (2) alter/reposition the location of the containment barrier so that a new untreated section of the object(s), item(s) or surface(s) can be treated.
The inventor has found that during certain surface treatment applications within a confined enclosure or containment barrier, conventional blasting wands or other surface treatment devices or tools are typically unable to reach and discharge the blasting media to facilitate the desired surface treatment of the object(s), item(s) or surface(s) without frequently having to either reposition the confined enclosure or containment barrier and/or reorientate the object(s), item(s) or surface(s) to be treated. This is particularly true when the desired surface to treated faces away from the blasting wand or other surface treatment device or tool and/or is a surface facing away from the articulated blasting wand or other surface treatment tool. According, the blasting wand or other surface treatment tool must typically be relocated from a first location to another second location where “line of sight” access to the surface of the object(s), item(s) or surface(s) to be treated can be achieved. Such a relocation of the articulated blasting wand or other surface treatment device or tool is time consuming, inefficient and often also requires repositioning of a portion of the confined enclosure or the containment barrier. This generally leads to down time which increases the associated time and cost of the treatment process.